Crimson Blood
by Streak the Chameleon
Summary: The race against time continues as Streak and Damien rush to find the Chaos Emeralds before it's too late. But with Shadow and the others following their every move, it won't be as easy as they thought. Sequel to Shadow and Espio. UPDATED.
1. Streak Comes Home

Crimson Blood

By Streak The Chameleon

Chapter 1: Streak Comes Home

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

Streak walked down the dusty road leading to Station Square.

He flipped a knife in his hand as he walked closer to the city.

"I'm finally back," he thought to himself.

"I wonder how everyone else is doing…"

He was getting closer to the city now. A few streetlights were on, and, oddly enough, no people.

A newspaper stand was on the first road. Streak grabbed a newspaper.

The cover story read:

Person Found Dead On Miller Road With Bite Marks In Neck: People Are Advised To Stay Inside

Streak looked up at the street sign. It was Miller Road.

He shuddered. "It's probably just some psycho who has an "interesting" way to kill people."

Yeah right. Who was he kidding? "Just some psycho?"

He looked at the sword he had found on his travels. Guns were hard to get, so why not get a sword? Didn't have to pay for ammo either.

He walked down the road to Shadow's apartment.

"Might as well meet him…"

He walked up the steps and knocked on his door.

Silence.

"Yo, Shadow. Are you in there?"

Silence again.

Streak tried the doorknob. The door glided open.

"Note to self: Try the door before knocking." He thought as he walked in.

The room was dark. Streak could see pretty good in the dark, but not as good as Rouge.

Still, he took off his backpack and pulled out a flashlight.

The beam cut through the darkness. Streak could see a bed, a table, and a phone.

"Shadow's cell phone?"

He pressed the message button. Espio's voice came up.

"Espio here. Just wanted to know when we were going to go out tonight."

Streak pressed the button again.

"Espio again. I've been standing at this corner for ages. When are you coming? We're going to lose people…"

Another voice came up. "That was your last message. To hear it again, press 1. To dele-"

Streak put the phone back. "Lose people?" What the heck does that mean?

There was a noise behind him. Streak spun and shone the flashlight behind him. Nothing.

He backed up. His ears heard the sound of crunching glass. He looked up.

Above him was a light with its light bulb shattered. He reached up and touched it. His finger cut on the sharp glass.

He looked at the table. The lamp on that had been smashed, too.

Then he heard movement coming up the stairs. He turned invisible and turned off the flashlight.

Shadow walked through the doorway and paced the room.

A drop of blood dripped onto the floor from Streak's finger.

Shadow immediately turned and walked straight toward him.

Streak turned visible. "Okay, you got me."

"What are you doing here?"

"What? No "Hi" or anything? I thought you were home at this time. Why are all the lights broken?"

"Well, I-"

"Hold it. I don't want to know."

"How long have you been here?"

Streak glanced at his watch. "Five minutes, why?"

"Never mind."

There was a dull silence when Streak finally said, "Okay, I'll guess I'll be seeing you."

"Yeah." Shadow put a hand on Streak's shoulder.

"Oh my God! Your hands are freezing!" Streak whipped around.

"Oh yeah. I've been out."

Streak raised an eyebrow. "Ooookay. See you later."

He turned and walked out of Shadow's apartment.


	2. Streak Finds Out

Crimson Blood

By Streak The Chameleon

Chapter 2: Streak Finds Out

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

Yay! First review! Thank you Aisukazemizu!

Streak had made it to Angel Island by night.

He walked into the cave that he and Tikal lived in, now complete with a bed, table, couch and TV.

Tikal wasn't there.

Streak walked over and sat on the bed.

"Shadow been acting weird…" he thought.

He lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

The newspaper was on the bedside table. Streak picked it up and started reading.

The cover story article read:

15 year old John Davis was found dead in his home at the corner of Miller Street. Police do not have any suspects, only a witness reporting seeing a small figure dash away. The police found bite holes in the victim's neck, which lead to the rumor of a vampire loose in the city. Citizens are advised to stay inside at nighttime only if necessary. Police are still investigating the case.

Streak put the article down. The case seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember.

It had been six months since GUN and…

The Blood Project. Had it been released? Shadow and Espio couldn't have released it, Sonic, Amy, Rouge, and Knuckles were dead…

Or were they?

He had left soon after, and if Sonic and Amy were alive after the explosion…

Then he came back, saw the article, went to Shadow's apartment…

Everything was dark… the lights were smashed…

"We're going to lose people…" That's what Espio had said.

"_Lose people…"_

Then Shadow came back late, he got cut, and Shadow came over immediately…

"_Lose people…"_

Then it hit him. "Oh… my… God…"

Streak jumped up, grabbed his sword, and ran back the way he came.

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Tikal was actually sitting on the top of the cave the whole time. She saw everything.

She raised a walkie-talkie. "Shadow? He's found out."

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Streak ran as fast as he could through Station Square.

He got to the door of Shadow's room.

He caught his breath, unsheathed his sword, and turned around and kicked open the door.

The room was still dark, as usual. Shadow was not in sight. Was he too late?

Something moved behind him. Streak spun around, sword at the ready.

He stood face-to-face with Shadow.

Streak held the sword up to Shadow's neck. "Tell me what is going on now."

"I-"

"Now!"

"Okay. We're vampires, except for you. I am, Espio is, Sonic is, Amy is, Knuckles-"

"Knuckles is dead."

"Thanks to the project, he's not. Everyone is back. Oh yeah, and I believe I need to pay you back for what happened last time."

"What? That was six months ago!"

Shadow smiled. "You weren't there."

"Get away from me…"

Streak jumped over Shadow and raced for the door. He ran down the stairs and outside. Shadow was close behind.

Streak zigzagged across the street, and then took a sharp right into an alleyway.

As he got to the end, he saw a huge chain-link fence. In one move, he jumped, wall-kicked off the wall, soared to the other side and wall-kicked off of the next.

Streak soared over the fence and landed on the other side.

He looked behind him. Shadow had paused at the fence. Could he get over?

He could. Shadow jumped clear over the fence in one jump.

Streak gasped and ran the other way.

There was a corner at the other end. If he could get there fast enough…

Streak dashed ahead, turned the corner and jumped straight up.

He was on the roof of a warehouse when Shadow turned the corner. Shadow looked around.

Streak picked up a rock, and hurled it to the right.

Shadow heard the noise and quickly ran off in the other direction.

Streak silently walked away.


	3. Journey To Terror

Crimson Blood

By Streak The Chameleon

Chapter 3: Journey To Terror

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

More reviews! Yay! Aisukazemisu, thank you for the review! Yes, Tikal is a vampire. Everyone is except Streak, because wasn't there when the Blood Project was unleashed. Pyro, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for reviewing!

Streak ran down the rooftop of the building. He needed to hide out somewhere, just think about what had happened.

He jumped off the end and just managed to grab the lip of the next building.

He hauled himself up and took a few long breaths.

"Got… to… get… out of here…"

He stood up. From this point you could see most of the city, with a beach a couple miles ahead.

"Better go there…"

And with that, he leaped off.

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Tikal watched Streak jump off the building.

She held up a walkie-talkie. "He's heading for the beach."

"Okay." Shadow's voice rang out in the night. "I'll be there in 30 minutes."

Tikal ran her tongue over her fangs. "I'll follow him."

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Sky diving wasn't Streak's specialty. Now as he was flying through the air, he wondered why he jumped off in the first place.

And there was one problem: How do you stop when you don't have parachute?

Streak had tried to skid his feet along the side of the building, and it slowed him down a little, but not by much.

Then he looked down and saw where he was headed.

"Oh-no…"

A dumpster was in the alley he jumped over. If he could just…

Streak skidded his feet on the side again, and jumped.

Since alleys are so thin, Streak could easily jump to the other side no matter how fast he was going.

He flipped through the air and landed on the side of the dumpster.

As he reached the end of the alley, a can rolled behind him.

Streak turned and fired a few shurikan behind him.

The shurikan hit against the wall. No one was in sight.

"Must have been the wind…"

He turned invisible. Just as a precaution. Shadow and everybody else would be "out" tonight.

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Tikal hadn't told Streak that while she was alive thanks to the Master Emerald, she didn't say she lost her powers. She could still see Streak while he was invisible.

She jumped and landed in the alley Streak was in.

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Streak walked down the sidewalk. There were no people in sight.

"Feels like a ghost town… but wait, it might as well be a ghost town."

He was reaching the beach now. The soft sand crunched under his feet.

A warehouse was in the distance. Streak went up to it and looked inside one of the windows.

Something darted inside.

"Whoa!"

Streak fell back onto the sand. Had he seen something in there?

He got up and slowly inched open the door. He shined the flashlight inside.

In the flashlight's beam he could see a table with one chair, a couch and TV.

Streak walked in slowly and closed the door. Then he walked up to the table.

On the table were blood packets. From the hospital.

He sensed movement to his left. Streak quickly shone the flashlight toward the area.

Nothing.

"I am getting out of here…"

He ran to the door and tried the handle.

The door was locked.


	4. Nowhere To Run

Crimson Blood

By Streak The Chameleon

Chapter 4: Nowhere To Run

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

You're exactly right, Pyro, that's what I meant. Streak hates vampires. So, let's just sit back, relax, and see what happens! Enjoy the chapter!

Streak desperately tried to slam himself against the door, with no avail.

"Why won't this F- door open?"

Yet another movement behind him. Streak turned and unsheathed his sword. Time to stand and fight.

With his flashlight in one hand and sword in the another, Streak slowly made his way around the room.

The flashlight's beam flickered for a moment, and then died out.

"Great. Just my luck."

He put his flashlight in his backpack and inched toward the window.

"Maybe I can break it…"

As he raised his sword in the air, a hand grabbed the hood of his sweater.

Then whoever was holding him promptly threw him out of the window.

Streak smashed through the window, and rolled onto the sand.

"Well, that's one way to-oh my God."

Knuckles approached him slowly. He didn't look that much different, the noticeable features were the fangs, and a look that basically said that he was going to kill someone today.

Streak got up and readied his sword. He was going to go down fighting.

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Shadow had followed Streak too, down the city with Tikal, and had locked the door on him when he had gone inside.

He really didn't want to pay Streak back for what happened six months ago; he just wanted to get some answers.

About his appearance, namely.

Shadow leaned against the side of the house and watched the show.

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Streak had swung his sword once, twice, three times.

Knuckles really knew how to dodge.

Knuckles threw a punch, and Streak parried it with the hilt of his sword.

If his could just get one hit in…

Streak rolled around him and tried to stab him.

Knuckles simply did a low kick, and Streak fell to the ground.

This battle was going nowhere. "Maybe I need to run…"

Knuckles pounced onto him.

"Yeah, I think I do need to run."

Streak used his legs to kick Knuckles off him.

Then he jumped up, turned invisible, and ran down the street.

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Tikal saw the whole thing from the building nearest the beach. She too, wanted answers, and she thought he was hiding things from her.

Truth is, he was.

Tikal jumped down into the street below, and followed Streak.

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Streak turned into the nearest alley.

He couldn't tell anyone. They would kill him.

Wait, they already are.

He slumped downwards and put his back against the wall.

Knuckles walked down the street in front of him.

Streak got up suddenly. Then he remembered he was still invisible.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he heard footsteps to his right.

He turned and saw Tikal.

"Don't say a word. Just back out slowly and carefully…" Streak thought.

Tikal looked straight at him.

Streak looked down. He was still invisible, and it definitely seemed that Tikal could still see him, so that meant…

"Oh God."

Streak turned and ran as fast as he could down the street.


	5. Tikal's Threat

Crimson Blood

By Streak The Chameleon

Chapter 6: Tikal's Threat

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

Pyro, thanks for the review.

So…last time we left Streak, which was… a month ago? Anyway, he was running for his life from a very angry Tikal, who, apparently, can see through Streak's invisibility. (pauses) So, let's find out, shall we?

"Ahhhhh!" Streak winced. That was the second dagger Tikal had thrown. The first one missed him, and that was cool, except the second had just sank into his ankle five seconds ago.

And that was totally not cool.

He still ran, however, even through it was necessarily slower than before.

After dodging more daggers he managed to jump over a car and into the intersection of Miller Road. From there, he turned into the nearest apartment.

Streak shut and bolted the door behind him. That would buy him some time.

Streak dragged himself up the steps and went to one of the doors.

He tried the handle. It was open.

Slowly Streak walked in. The room was dark.

As he shut the door, he noticed a gun on he bedside table. A pang of fear hit him.

This was Shadow's apartment!

He wildly looked around. Shadow didn't seem to be there.

Streak looked down at his ankle. It was bleeding bad, and his shoes were getting soaked.

He reached down and pulled the dagger out with a wince.

That would hurt in the morning.

That is, if there was a morning.

There was a bang behind him. Tikal was here!

Streak's eyes dashed around wildly. The gun!

The door smashed open as Streak put his hand on the gun.

Tikal walked in and Streak pointed it at her.

"That's not going to work."

"Stay…away…from…me…"

"Why?"

"You god-$& know why!"

"Oh really? I personally don't know what's going on here, and the only thing I know-"She stopped.

"Is that you know what happened."

Streak shivered.

"I'm-I'm not going to tell you."

"Why?"

Streak looked down.

"You'd kill me."

Tikal took a breath.

"What makes you think I won't kill you anyway?"

Streak looked up, a mixture of horror and shock on his face.

Tikal smiled, revealing sharp fangs.

Streak's eyes narrowed, and he raised the gun.

And emptied it.

The bullet went straight for her and sunk in.

Streak looked for any wounds.

There was none.

He dropped the gun with a clack.

"W-What? But I…"

Tikal had no wounds at all, like he didn't even shoot her.

"You can't hurt me."

Streak eyes darted to the window. If he could…

Tikal dashed toward him, and Streak spun to the side.

He ran forward and flipped, straight through the window.


	6. Brother Versus Brother

Crimson Blood

By Streak The Chameleon

Chapter 6: Brother Versus Brother

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

Thanks to Maverick87 and ShadowDragon2005 for reviews. Expect to see a lot of fighting in this chapter, so just try to understand what the characters are doing.

The glass on the window shattered as Streak jumped through it.

He skidded down the vertical building, landed on the street, and ran off down the road.

Tikal watched as Streak ran down and disappeared into the distance.

She raised her walkie-talkie.

"Espio, he's getting close to your position."

"Copy that. On my way."

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Streak slowed to a stop and took a few breaths.

His ankle was killing him. He needed to patch that up.

A stone hit the ground behind him, and without looking back, Streak ran even farther to the city outskirts where the demolished GUN base was located.

He eventually walked up the hill and saw the GUN base.

A huge canister was raised in the middle.

Streak ran up to it. This was the Blood Project canister.

It was empty.

Streak walked backwards a few steps and stopped.

"Is that a… whistling sound?"

Streak looked up. Up in the sky, he could see two black objects.

"Wings…?"

Streak immediately ran for the nearest tree and crouched in the shade.

Ten seconds later, the winged figure came down.

It was Espio.

Streak spun and put his back against the other side of the tree.

He waited five seconds, and then looked back around.

Espio was looking right at him.

Streak slowly took out his sword and took a few steps back.

Espio took a step forward.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Not going to hurt me? Yeah right." Streak held his ankle with his hand and held his sword with the other.

"I'm serious."

"I'm. Not. Going. Anywhere."

Espio got into a fighting position. "I'll make you."

"I'd like to see you try."

With that, Espio charged forward.

His hand came up, and he punched Streak in the stomach.

Streak kneeled on the ground. Seconds later he coughed up blood.

"You're pretty good."

He jumped up and darted toward the tree. He planted his feet on the side of it and wall-kicked off, giving him extra height.

In the air, he raised his sword above his head and brought it down.

Espio dodged to the side, and Streak swung his sword to the right, narrowly missing Espio.

Espio threw a punch, and Streak ducked under it.

Then he did a low kick and swept Espio off his feet.

Before Espio landed on the ground, Streak spun and kicked him.

Espio skidded a few feet. Streak walked up to him, took the hilt of his sword, and knocked him out.

Streak tapped him on the head.

He was knocked out, alright.

Streak stood up.

"Sorry…"

Then he walked away.


	7. Damien

Crimson Blood

By Streak The Chameleon

Chapter 7: Damien

I do not know any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

Uh, correction, Maverick87, Streak is Espio's OLDER brother. Just wanted to clear that up. Thanks for your review.

Streak slowed a few feet away from Espio.

His eyesight seemed to swirl. He lost too much blood.

"I got to… go on…"

There was a brief whistling sound behind him, and cold metal buried into his back several times before the sound stopped.

For a spilt second Streak realized that Espio wasn't knocked out after all. He was faking it the entire time.

Before he lost conciseness, he turned his head to the side and looked at Espio.

"Espio…"

The last thing he saw was Espio's smirking face, and then a flash of sliver off to his right.

Then he tumbled to the ground and the world went black.

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Tikal's hand came up to knock the door of Amy's apartment.

Amy opened it after the first knock.

"Oh…Tikal? Come on in."

She walked in and Amy closed the door behind her. She walked into the kitchen and sat in a chair.

"So…what's up?"

Tikal paused. "It's about Streak. He won't tell me what happened."

Amy blinked. "Oh, him? Sure, he knows about it, but what really happened? For that, you'd have to ask Sonic."

"So where is he?"

Amy smiled. "He's at the ARK."

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Shadow had walked a few miles since we last left him near the cabin.

Now he was in the city outskirts. (Where we "left", more like dumped, Streak.)

As he went up the hill, he stopped.

Was that… the smashing of metal?

Shadow ran up the hill and looked.

He could see Espio's body lying on the grass. (No surprise there.)

But, on the left, he could see a silver hedgehog with a first aid kit, leaning over Streak's body.

The hedgehog had some sort of armor on him, with a red collar then went up to his eyes.

More importantly, he had a huge sword strapped onto his back.

Shadow calmly walked up to the hedgehog and stopped a few feet from him.

"You need something?" The hedgehog said casually.

"Yeah…"

Shadow quickly threw a punch at him.

The silver hedgehog spun and did a low kick.

Shadow fell to the ground.

The hedgehog stood up and hoisted Streak onto his back.

Shadow got up and dashed at him.

Shadow rammed into him, pinning him up against the tree.

"Do you know who you're dealing with?"

The hedgehog looked him up and down with bored eyes.

"You're Shadow the hedgehog. You're also a vampire."

"Right. So, how much blood you got in there?"

"I don't think I feel like giving up my blood today."

Shadow grinned. "Not your choice."

The hedgehog suddenly broke free of Shadow's supernatural grip and ran off into the distance.

Shadow stood back and watched him go, not because he dropped down his guard, but because he let him go.

He raised his walkie-talkie.

"Tikal? We have a vampire hunter."


	8. Training

Crimson Blood

By Streak The Chameleon

Chapter 8: Training

With all these good stories going around, I feel… outranked… thanks for your review, Maverick87.

Streak had just woken up, expecting to be dead. Instead, he was alive, and was in a house in the Mystic Ruins.

He hopped out of the bed and looked around. His clothes were hanging on a hook next to him.

He quickly changed into his clothes, and walked down a hall. Something caught his eye. He turned, and saw a suit of armor hanging on the wall. Instead of a helmet, however, there was some sort of red scarf that was on it.

After walking into a kitchen, he found a silver hedgehog sitting at a table, drinking coffee.

Without even looking up, the hedgehog said, "You're up."

"Where am I? Who are you?"

"You're in my house, and my name is Damien."

Streak's sword lay on the table. Streak reached for it, but Damien held up his hand. "Not yet."

"It's my sword."

"Yeah? I seem to recall you're in my house."

Streak opened his mouth to object, but Damien shot him a glare, and he closed it.

Damien put down the cup. "Ok, let's go."

"Go where?"

"You'll see."

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Amy and Tikal were on the ARK, and they were looking for Sonic.

"Here it is."

Amy and Tikal stopped at a door and pushed it open.

In the room were many test tubes and vials full of strange liquids.

"It looks like he's not here." Amy said.

"Is he working on something?"

"Well, yes. He was the one who activated the virus, so now he's trying to find a way to cure it."

"Has he found a cure?"

"No."

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Espio was slammed up against the wall by Shadow.

"Why! Why couldn't you defeat him?"

"I tried. He was too strong!"

"Too strong? You're stronger then him!"

"He took me off guard…"

Shadow dropped Espio.

"Look, Shadow, I don't want to kill him."

Shadow sat down and put his head in his hands.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm getting worked up."

Espio sat down next to him. "Do you think Sonic will find a cure?"

"I hope so. Just staying alive is sickening."

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Streak followed Damien around the house until Damien stopped at a door.

Damien tossed him some clothes. "Put these on."

Streak looked at it. It was a ninja suit, with two holes in the top for eyes.

"I don't think so."

"You'll need it."

"Fine."

A few minutes later, Streak came out. Damien tossed him his sword.

He opened the door. "Ok, go in."

"What's this?"

Damien smirked. "It's where you'll train, of course."


	9. One on One

Crimson Blood

By Streak The Chameleon

Chapter 9: One on One

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

Maverick87, and Pyro Hedgehog4ever, thanks for your reviews. And Pyro how is Damien weird?

For more stuff on Damien and my upcoming story, check my profile.

I'm going to try my hand at a better fight in this chapter. It's not going to go in Streak's favor. Tell me what you think.

Hope you guys like the chapter!

"Ok! Let's get this started, shall we?" Damien appeared in a control box on the right side of the wall.

"Let's go with an easy one."

A door opened, and a regular, run-of-the-mill robot emerged.

Streak stood there for a moment. "You must be kidding me."

"This training isn't about whether you can just defeat the robot. You should include style, too."

"Style?"

"Dodges, rolls, flips, whatever. Just defeat the dang robot."

Streak unsheathed his sword. The robot raised its gun.

A volley of laser shots fired from the gun. Streak dashed to the wall and ran right up it at a diagonal angle.

After the shots ceased, Streak ran up to it, kicked the gun out of its hands, and delivered a clean slash that beheaded it immediately.

Streak looked up at Damien.

"Oh my God. You're taking notes!"

Damien looked up. "Oh, you're done. Actually, this is a crossword puzzle."

Streak said nothing.

After many battles involving lots of robots on lots of difficulty, Damien pressed a button, hopped down from the control box, and drew his sword.

"Ok. Fight me."

Streak stood in one place for a moment.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Ok then." Streak drew his sword.

The battleground flashed once, and the walls and the ground shifted to glass.

Streak looked surprised. "Whoa." He then looked up.

Damien was dashing toward him, sword raised.

Streak lifted the sword at a vertical angle, and just managed to block Damien's strike. Still, he rocked back on his heels.

Damien went in for another slash, and Streak rolled around him, trying to counter.

Damien spun and dodged Streak's slash, then ran back to the wall.

At the wall, Damien kicked off of it, and used that momentum to jump toward Streak.

Streak brought his sword up in defense position.

Instead of slashing, Damien grabbed Streak by his arm. Both their weight combined cracked the glass Streak was standing on.

This subsequently sent Streak and Damien hurtling through six sheets of glass.

The glass on the floor Streak and Damien were on had another sheet under it. Under that sheet was another one, and another one, and so on. Streak was on the bottom, so he took the most punishment, and Damien was on the top, using Streak as a shield.

As you can see, life was not going very well for Streak right now.

After the sheets there was a long drop to the floor, and Damien kicked Streak out from under him.

Streak smashed into the floor, and Damien landed on his feet.

He walked up to Streak. Streak's eyes were closed, but he was still breathing.

Damien turned around and walked to the wall. On it was a control panel, which turned the room back to normal and raised the floor up to ground level.

He turned back around. Streak was gone.

His sword was lying on the floor where his body should have been.

"Streak? Where are you?"

The lights flicked off, and the room went black.

Damien backed away from the control panel and slowly slid around to the door.

Then he was socked across the face.

This was followed up by another punch, and then one kick.

There was a pause. Damien shook his head. Had he imagined that?

Then there was a flash, and Damien got kicked in the shoulder.

Another punch came, then two kicks, each connecting solidly to Damien's body.

_Wham! Wham! _And then:_ Wham! Wham! Wham!_ And then once more: _Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! _A pause. Then, one solid _Wham! _as Damien crumpled to the floor.

The last words he heard were, "See ya later, Damien."

(Damien's not dead, and Streak hasn't left.)


	10. Inferno On ARK

Crimson Blood

By Streak the Chameleon

Chapter 10: Inferno On ARK

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does. I do own Streak and Damien.

Pyro, thanks for your review, and I guess Damien supposed to be emotionless, but I guess that's you. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Damien walked into the kitchen to find Streak sitting at the table. The chameleon was drinking bottled water, most likely from Damien's fridge.

"So," Streak said. "We all have our strengths and weaknesses, huh?"

Damien said nothing as he sat down.

"Maybe, but you're still not ready."

"I say I am."

"Well, that's your opinion, and trust me, you're not."

"But-"

Damien waved his hand. "Tomorrow, we'll work on sword techniques. That's it." With that, he got up from the table, and walked off.

"Good night."

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Sonic walked in the doorway of the ARK's lab.

Currently he hadn't found a cure, and Tails was playing around somewhere, but that didn't mean he couldn't mess around with the liquids in here and try to find one.

Sighing, he sat down near the test tubes and began to work…

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Streak, like Sonic, wasn't ready to sleep yet. He was practically nocturnal, with night being a strong point for everything he did.

And, it was night, so why wasn't he out there?

He walked outside. Damien's house was on a hill, so you could see for miles over the city. Also, if you look up, on a clear night you could see the ARK in the sky.

Streak looked up. Sure enough, there was the ARK, hovering in the atmosphere.

A flash suddenly blinked on the side. Streak stared at it.

"What is that thing?"

An explosion rang out, and before Streak could blink, fire and smoke appeared on the ARK's right side.

"What the-"Streak's mouth fell open.

He fumbled with his bracelet, there was a flash of light, and Streak was gone.

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He reappeared on the ARK. Fire blinded him.

"Hello! Is anybody in here?" He quickly ran through the smoke.

After vaulting over a piece of fallen metal, racing through a maze of doors, and smashing down a door, he saw Sonic lying on the floor, unconscious.

Streak quickly decided to carry Sonic out. As he slung him over his shoulder, Sonic opened his eyes.

"Streak?"

Streak looked behind him to meet Sonic's gaze.

"I've got you! Just tell me where to go!"

Sonic looked around and nodded. "That way!"

Streak ran forward, following Sonic's directions.

"Take a right!"

Streak turned right, and just managed to avoid running into a fire that sprung up in front of them.

Sonic could see the ARK's transporter up ahead.

"We'll have to go another way!" Sonic yelled, trying to be heard over the inferno.

"There's no time!"

"We have no choice!"

Streak noticed that the hallway's walls were thin. If he could just…

"Hang on!"

"What are you-"

Streak ran forward, and then ran up the wall at a diagonal angle, missing the fire on the ground.

He put Sonic on the ground, and ran over to a panel on the wall.

He pressed buttons on it, but it wasn't working.

He smashed a fist on it. "Dang it! Work!"

The panel blew. Streak shielded his eyes.

"I've got it."

Sonic stood up and ran over.

As Streak looked down the hall, he could see that the fire was getting dangerously close to the fuel tank of the station.

Then he remembered his bracelet.

He rubbed it in the correct order until it glowed, and then went to Sonic.

"Grab my hand!"

"But I have to-"

"DO IT!"

Sonic grabbed Streak's hand and the two vanished in a flash of light.

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Damien watched the night sky as the ARK blew, its pieces scattering to the sea below.

There was a flash of light, and Streak and Sonic appeared, lying on the ground next to him.

Sonic was unconscious again, and it looked like Streak was about to pass out, too.

"Hey. Guess where I went?"

Damien grinned as Streak lost consciousness.

"I don't want to know."


	11. Secrets of Sonic

Crimson Blood

By Streak the Chameleon

Chapter 11: Secrets of Sonic

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does. I do, however, own Streak and Damien.

Thanks for all your reviews. Wait until you see what happens next.

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Streak walked in the next morning to find Damien, as usually, drinking coffee at the table.

"How is he?" Streak asked.

"He's still in bed."

"Ok. Just wanted to know." Streak walked off.

He passed by the room where Sonic was sleeping in. The lights were off, but he could see Sonic in the bed.

Damien walked up to him. "Ready to practice?"

Streak turned around and grinned.

"Let's do it."

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Tikal walked into Amy's house to find Amy sitting at the table with some papers in her hands.

"What's that?" Tikal said.

Amy looked up. "Oh, this? This is Sonic's log from the ARK."

"Can I see?"

Amy tossed the papers to her. "Sure, knock yourself out."

Tikal sat down. The first paper read:

_I don't know why I pressed that button. Even this far into this nightmare, I still can't believe I was so stupid to press it. Doing so released the virus, and before I knew it, bang, I'm a vampire. Of course every one else is, except Streak, who went off on some spiritual journey or whatever. He's going to be surprised when he gets back…_

_I should make a cure for this…_

The next page read…

_I decided today to meet with Tails and discuss a cure with him. He said it was a good idea, and suggested that we get started immediately. After that, I tried to get Knuckles in, but he's sort of loopy. It's like the virus has gone to his head._

The last page read…

_Streak came back, and I don't know if this is a blessing or a curse. According to Shadow, he obviously got freaked out, and ran off somewhere. I don't know where, but Shadow said that he'll find him. What's weird is he had this grin on all the time as he was saying this. I asked him if he was taking his "blood supply" and he said yes, even though I don't believe him. I kinda understand how Streak was feeling when he came home. I think I should stay out of the way._

Tikal put the papers down. "How long have you been reading this?"

"An hour, maybe. I just don't know where he is, so I'm reading this over and over again."

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Streak's sword flew from his hands and smashed into the wall for the third time.

"C'mon! Can't you do this?" Damien said.

Streak pulled his sword from the wall. "Unlike some people, I haven't been using a sword all my life."

"You can still learn this."

Streak walked over to Damien and raised his sword.

"Okay. When I hit, I want you to roll around and tap me with your sword."

Damien swung, and instead of instinctively defending, Streak rolled around his strike and tapped Damien with his sword.

"Nice! Can you do that again?"

They got into a ready position and Streak did the same maneuver as before.

"Ok. I think you got it."

"Great. I'm going to check on Sonic."

Streak sheathed his sword and walked down the hall to Sonic's room.

He opened the door, and looked straight into the face of Sonic, hanging upside-down from the ceiling.

"Whoa!" Streak fell backwards.

Sonic started laughing. "How's it going?"

Streak picked himself up. "Everything was fine, until now."

"Oh, c'mon!"

Streak walked up to him. "Are you feeling okay?"

Sonic stopped laughing. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for saving me and everything. But still..." He looked down. "The ARK's destroyed."

"You can still do whatever you're doing, right?"

"I really don't know. I just really don't know."


	12. The Curse

Crimson Blood

By Streak the Chameleon

Chapter 12: The Curse

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

Ok, Ken. Yes, GUN is destroyed. Still with me? Now projects Blood and Assassin were meant to be combined into one subject, except the project wasn't completed. GUN was hoping that if they completed this and everything, they would have a subject powerful enough for evil purposes. But, at the end of SaE, the GUN fortress was destroyed, and, as far as I know, there is only one GUN base. Okay? Cool? And, while I'm at it, the setting is Earth, not Mobius. Also, how old are you? Seriously.

Whew. That was a mouthful. Anyway, this is it! The climax of this story! Something big is going to happen! Enjoy!

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Sonic looked at the floor for a moment before speaking.

"I…I just need to be alone for awhile, ok?"

Sonic went back in the room and closed the door.

Streak sighed, and then walked back to Damien.

"Everything ok?"

"Yeah," Streak said. "Listen, I'm taking a walk."

Streak then proceeded to walk out the door.

Behind him he could hear Damien saying, "Be careful."

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Espio knocked on Shadow's apartment door.

"Yeah?"

"Sonic's with Streak."

"What?"

"I said, Sonic is with Streak."

"Really."

"No, I'm not lying-"

"I know your not! I already knew he was with Streak! Do you have anything ELSE to bug me about?"

"Sonic activated the virus."

Shadow paused. "Do you have proof?"

Espio tossed Sonic's papers to him. Shadow grabbed it, and read it. Then he put it down.

"He's been hiding this for the entire time."

"Uh…yes."

"And we thought it was Streak."

"Yes."

Again, Shadow paused.

"Kind of convenient he's with Streak, huh?"

Espio looked puzzled. "What are you getting at?"

"I'm saying that if he wasn't over there, I'd probably be beating the crap out him right now."

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Streak walked down the road into the main part of Station Square. After that, he wandered into a section of the city that was abandoned.

A sign near the entrance said, "This place was severely hit by small earthquakes, and the citizens were told to evacuate. Please enter at your own risk."

Streak walked in and observed the wreckage. Around him were half-demolished building and houses that were boarded up.

Streak stopped in front of one of the destroyed buildings.

Then he heard a girl's voice behind him.

"Streak?"

Streak spun around and widened his eyes.

"Oh my Go-"

A punch hit him in the face, and he soared straight toward the building.

Sounds of splintering wood filled his ears as he broke though the windows and landed in a pile of rubble.

He looked up, and saw Rouge standing in the doorway.

"What…do you want?"

"What do I want?" Rouge's footsteps echoed softly through the building."

She grabbed Streak by the neck and pinned him up against the wall.

"I'm going to kill you…for killing me."

Even in this predicament, Streak couldn't help but laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"You're going to kill me…what, again?"

Rouge looked and saw that Streak was raising his sword above her head.

She chuckled. "That's not going to save you."

Then she bit into Streak's right hand.

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There was a flash of light, and Streak found himself in a completely white room.

"Where am I?"

"_Hello."_

Streak jumped. "Who was that?"

"_Behind you."_

Streak turned, and saw a figure that was completely white, like the room, only with a black outline. The shape of the figure resembled a chameleon.

"Who are you?"

"_Thought you'd never ask." _The figure stood.

"_You can call me Earth. Or the universe. Or God. Or Life. Or Death."_

Streak blinked.

"_What matters is what's behind you."_

Streak turned around. Behind him was a huge door, with inscriptions marked all over it.

"What's in here?"

"_Go look."_

The door smashed open, and in it was a enormous eye, with black hands reaching for Streak.

"What the heck is this?"

Suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed him, and then another and another. Slowly it pulled him in.

"_Enjoy your ride."_

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"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME!"

Streak screamed as he hurtled through a endless amount of pillars, which seemed to be all white and breaking down like computer data.

"Stop! Stop!"

Ahead of him was a sword, most likely his. Streak reached for it.

As stood as he was a few inches away from it, there was a flash, and Streak found himself back in the same white room, his hand still outstretched.

"_How was it?"_

"It was… incredible…" Streak said. "It was like all the world's information was pouring into my head." He looked up.

"I almost had it! Can I do it again?"

"_No, no. That's the rule. One sacrifice, one look. And also, about that…" _The faintest grin appeared on the figure's face.

He raised his hand, and a dot appeared on it, followed by three markings that looked like raindrops.

"_She bit you, didn't she? Good luck with that."_

Streak's eyes widened.

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Another flash and Streak was back in the destroyed building.

Rouge was standing off in a corner of the building.

Streak looked at his right hand. The same marking appeared like on the figure before.

Two seconds passed.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

(Some people might notice that some scenes in this chapter were based off of Full Metal Alchemist. Also, just to note, this is my longest chapter ever.)


	13. Invasion

Crimson Blood

By Streak the Chameleon

Chapter 13: Invasion

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does. I do own Streak and Damien.

Ok, Maverick. Grab a shovel. Now raise it over your head. Now, swiftly smash it over my head. Repeat five times.

Sorry for not updating recently. I won't go into the details of what happened. I know most of you want to know what happens next, especially at this point in the story, so here it is. Enjoy, and review.

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"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Streak's body was on fire. It felt like somebody had ripped his body open. He couldn't take the intense pain and wished for it to stop, but instead, it increased.

Just when it felt like he couldn't take it anymore, there was a bright flash of light. Then, ten seconds later, the pain stopped, and Streak stood up.

Rouge was still in the corner, slowly widening her eyes. Streak turned to the right, where the only clear window was. He looked in.

He had definitely changed. His traditional hooded sweater and jeans were gone, now replaced with completely black clothing, which resembled the clothing of a ninja. The only other clothing that was a different color was his white gloves, and a neck protector, similar to Damien's, but was made of a different material. Two longer parts were sticking out of the back of it, and were now waving in the wind.

In addition, two red vertical lines were on his face, starting from the bottom of his eyes and going down, stopping above the chin on the two opposite sides of his face. His eye color was also bright red.

He turned to Rouge and unsheathed his sword, which had now turned to a full beam sword, but with the same outline and shape. He tapped his hand against it, and to his surprise it passed right through, yet when he hit it against the wall, it made a dull clanging sound.

"So… can we continue?"

Streak dashed toward Rouge and did a quick uppercut, which sent her a foot up in the air.

Rouge shot straight past Streak and up the long staircase to the higher floors.

Streak ran outside, attached his feet to the wall of the building, and ran up the side to the roof.

He was up on the top when Rouge finally came up.

Rouge ran toward him, and Streak sidestepped. Rouge stopped just in time at the edge of the building. She just saved herself from falling when Streak tapped her on the back, which was just enough to send her off the building.

She landed on the ground and glared up at Streak. Streak was laughing his head off.

"You're really something, you know that?"

Rouge said nothing.

Streak jumped off the building and threw several shuriken toward Rouge.

Rouge dodged them and jumped up toward Streak in midair.

She threw a punch, and Streak grabbed it. He then threw her down to the ground.

Rouge's body hit with full force on the ground, knocking the wind out of her. She was out cold when Streak landed on the ground.

He had just turned back when the mark on his hand started burning with pain.

"Oh no…"

The pain got worse and worse until the point that it was unbearable. Streak collapsed on the ground and blacked out.

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"So…you're awake."

Streak slowly opened his eyes to see Sonic standing in the corner, setting up a projector.

"How did you find me?"

"You can always tell that if you're not back in 30 minutes, you're in trouble. So, I went and searched."

Streak looked at the mark on his hand.

"Got it."

Streak looked up to see Sonic with a remote in his hand.

"Ok, pay attention."

Sonic hit a button on the remote and the projector blinked to show a slide on the wall. It was a picture of Streak's mark.

"Alright, listen up. You were bitten on your right hand by Rouge. And, before you say anything, no, you're not going to die."

Sonic hit the button again.

"Techincally you're not a vampire." He turned and faced Streak. "You are a half-vampire."

Streak was speechless.

"Yes, there is such a thing as a half-vampire. The good news is this." He pressed the button again.

"Ok, one. You don't have fangs, so you don't need blood. Two, every time you tap into your curse mark; you get stronger, faster, and so on."

He turned around again. "Is this making any sense to you?"

"No."

"Well, keep listening." He pressed the button once more.

"The bad news about tapping into this power is you faint after 30 minutes."

He hit the button and continued.

"Basically to tap into this mark is the same way you turn invisible."

He walked over to the projector and turned it off.

"Since I don't know how you turn invisible, you need to experiment on your own."

Streak got up and looked at his mark again. Sonic noticed and looked up.

"Don't worry about it or anything. You're not sick or something. The only thing you need to do is explain this to Tikal. And that-" He started laughing. "That I can't help you with."

Streak closed the door and walked outside. Damien was leaning against the doorway.

"You ok?"

"Yeah." Streak pulled his glove down.

They sat there for a few minutes when Damien got off the doorway.

"Well, I'll be inside. See you later."

Streak walked out of the doorway to the tree next to the house.

He sat down and looked out over the hill.

He was about to go inside when suddenly he heard a rustling. He quickly stood up.

Shadow was coming over the hill. He walked up and saw Streak. Behind him were Tikal, Amy, Rouge, and Knuckles.

Streak stood staring at them when Shadow spoke.

"Hi… did we come at a bad time?"


	14. Invasion Part 2

Crimson Blood

By Streak the Chameleon

Chapter 14: Invasion Part 2

I do not own any of the Sonic characters in this story, except for Streak and Damien.

Thanks for all the reviews, and let's get started. This is a very long chapter. For me, at least. Enjoy, and review.

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Streak continued his cold stare at Shadow as he slowly unsheathed his sword.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Oh? And why not?"

Shadow smirked. "I suppose you know what this is, right?" He held up his left hand. In it was a gun.

He slowly pointed it at Streak. Streak just shifted his stance.

"Well? Aren't you going to do something?"

Streak put back his sword. Then he made a short, shrill whistle.

Shadow cocked an eyebrow.

Suddenly Damien burst out from the tree Streak was under and jumped toward Shadow, sword raised.

Shadow quickly swiveled the gun toward Damien, but he knocked the gun out of his hands and landed on the ground in front of him. The gun flew out over the hill.

"Hi," Damien said. "Remember me?"

He flipped backwards next to Streak.

"Now would be good time to use it," Damien whispered.

Streak slowly backed up toward the door. "Use what?"

Damien shifted his gaze toward Streak's hand.

"I don't think so."

"Why not-"

"Yo! We're still here."

Shadow cracked his knuckles. "Are you going to give us Sonic or what?"

"NO!" Streak and Damien said at the exact same time.

Shadow shrugged. "Ok. It's your funeral."

He dashed toward Streak and punched him in the chest. Streak flew through a window and landed inside the house with a thud.

Damien winced as Shadow turned toward him. "One down, one to go."

Streak suddenly burst through the shattered window, grabbed Shadow, and pinned him to the ground. His curse mark was active.

Tikal gasped. Shadow widened his eyes. "Well, look who's got the new look?"

Streak's now red eyes glared at him menacingly. He picked Shadow up, still holding his neck, until he turned around and threw Shadow straight into the house.

Shadow smashed through the wall, creating a huge hole. Streak jumped up and out of sight.

Damien then ran toward the door and raced inside. Moments later, Knuckles smashed the door down with a punch.

He ran down the hallway, completely oblivious to Damien, who was standing right next to the doorway.

"Wow. Either he's stupid, or he just wanted to find-"Damien stopped for a minute.

"Dang it!" He ran down the hallway after Knuckles.

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Streak ducked a punch from Shadow, and then tried to counter with one of his own. Shadow simply sidestepped, then hit Streak across the face. Streak skidded a few feet away.

He wiped blood off the corner of his mouth and stood.

"What's the matter with you? He's trying to help!"

"It's his fault that this got started in the first place."

"Can't you forget about that and help him for a change?" Streak jumped over a low kick from Shadow.

"I'll never…forget!" Shadow spin kicked Streak and sent him soaring through a window. Streak fell on his back in the grass.

Shadow landed a few seconds later.

"You don't know what it's like, having to live like this! I'm about to go insane!"

"I think you already have." Streak muttered under his breath.

"It's his fault everyone's like this!" Shadow started walking toward Streak.

"All you're doing is preventing Sonic from facing the truth!"

"No…all I'm doing is trying to knock some sense back into your head!"

Streak leaped up and tackled Shadow, knocking him to the ground.

"He already knows that he started it. He's trying to fix it. Can't you see-"

Streak suddenly stared at Shadow. Shadow's eyes were closed shut.

Streak got off him. "Shadow?"

A pause. Then, Shadow's eyes opened and he got up.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Shadow fell on his knees. Streak watched as green flames enveloped Shadow's body, covering him completely.

"That's the same color as the project itself…" Streak thought.

The flames slowly died down a few seconds later. Shadow got up and Streak unsheathed his sword.

Shadow had changed for the worse. His eyes were now a deepened red, and his fangs had gotten a couple inches longer. Also, black wings extended out of his back, and his hands looked more like claws now.

"He's gone insane…"

"Insane, huh? I like that." Shadow's voice echoed in his mind.

"Now, where were we?" Shadow said, walking toward Streak.

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Sonic grabbed Amy's fist. "Come on, Amy, stop it!"

Amy said nothing as she threw another punch.

"You did it, now you're paying for it!"

"I'm trying to help-"

Amy smashed him on the head with her hammer.

Sonic fell face first onto the floor. "Ok, that's it!"

He jumped up and ran up the wall. He started running around and around the room, going faster and faster, like a tornado.

"Sonic Wind!"

Amy was battered with dozens of strikes and blows as Sonic spun all over the room.

Sonic finally stopped running and landed in the center of the room.

Amy crumpled and hit the ground.

"Sorry, Ames…"

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Damien swung his sword again at Knuckles. The echidna jumped out of the way, out of harm's reach.

"Stop moving!" Damien said in frustration.

"Ok." Knuckles stopped, pulled his arm back, and tried to punch Damien.

Damien rolled around Knuckles and slashed him across the back.

He jumped back as blood gushed onto the carpet. Damien wiped his sword along the floor.

"You're lucky. Next time, this sword is going through your heart."

Knuckles growled and turned around. He charged at Damien in mad rage.

Damien sidestepped, and Knuckles smashed into the wall. A picture fell on top of him.

"Oh, c'mon, it can't be that easy."

Knuckles' body vanished into black smoke.

"It never is."

Damien froze. He slowly looked up. Knuckles was clinging to the ceiling.

"Oh my Go-"

Knuckles dropped and Damien blacked out.

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Tikal was running along side Rouge as they searched through the house.

"We're never going to find him in this huge place." Rouge said.

"Let's keep moving."

There was a rumbling sound and they both stopped.

"What was that?" Tikal said.

"Let's find out."

They walked a few steps, then stopped.

Streak flew straight threw the wall in front of them. He smashed against the next one and fell.

Tikal ran forward toward him, but Rouge stopped her.

"Wait. Something else is coming."

"But I need to help-"

The sound of footsteps reached both of their ears. Then Shadow walked through the hole.

Tikal gasped. Rouge just said, "Shadow?"

Shadow glanced at them and continued to walk toward Streak.

He picked up Streak by the neck and threw him to the floor.

Streak slowly tried to reach for his sword. Shadow noticed and kicked the sword out of the way.

"Pathetic."

Streak obviously heard this and clenched his fists. He ran toward Shadow, but his legs gave way and he crumpled to the ground.

"Why do you keep trying? You're half dead. Keep going and you will die. Either by me or yourself."

Streak took a few breaths. "That's not it," he said, slowly rising.

He managed to stand up, but he fell to his knees.

"I can't control this." Streak said finally.

"Control what?"

As Tikal watched, Streak's clothes slowly shimmered back to regular. The lines disappeared, and his eye color went back to blue.

Streak immediately fell to the floor and fainted.


	15. Prison Hell

Crimson Blood

By Streak the Chameleon

Chapter 15: Prison Hell

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

Sorry about this. Thanks to sonic and shadows girl, Maverick87, and Fang the Dragon for their reviews. On with the chapter!

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Streak slowly opened his eyes to see that he was apparently in a jail cell. He looked to the side and saw Damien sitting in another one much like his. Across from him was Sonic.

He shook his head to get into focus, and then turned to Damien.

"Did you get the number of that truck?"

"What?"

"Never mind."

Shadow walked into the room a few seconds later.

"Like your new accommodations?"

"Shut up." Streak held his head in his hands.

Shadow said nothing as he turned to Sonic began talking with him in a low voice.

Sonic nodded his head a few times, and Shadow left.

"What was that all about?" Streak asked.

Sonic shrugged his shoulders.

Minutes seemed to pass like days until Shadow walked into the room again. He walked up to Streak's cell and unlocked it.

"What are you doing?" Streak said in disbelief.

"Get up and follow me."

Streak slowly got up and walked toward him. Shadow turned around and walked out.

Unsure of what was happening, Streak followed.

"Don't even think of trying anything…" Shadow warned.

They walked down a hallway and turned a corner until they came to a door.

Shadow pushed it open and walked inside. Streak followed him in.

Inside was a view screen that showed a digital map of a room. A chair sat in the middle of the room with a desk in front of it.

"Sit down." Streak walked over and sat down.

"Ok, I'm only to explain this once." Shadow stood to the side of the screen.

"You're going to go through this." The screen showed the map of a maze of hallways.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"The object is to reach the end as fast as you can."

"But-"Shadow raised a hand.

"In addition…" He continued.

"It will be in the dark."

Streak groaned.

"Rouge will try to stop you from getting to the end."

Streak clunked his head on the desk.

"What do I get when I reach the end?"

Shadow shrugged. "I haven't decided that yet."

Streak muttered a curse.

"Ok. In you go."

Streak got up, stretched his legs, and walked in.

Just as Shadow said, the maze was huge and pitch black.

Streak slowly took a step. The sound echoed off the walls.

He sighed and ran forward, taking a left turn. He was instantly met with a dead end.

Streak turned back the way he came and took a different route. He again was met with a dead end.

He sat down to think. Shadow was obviously playing his fears against him. Darkness, Rouge, everything was to make him think that there was no way to finish the maze.

He thought for a few moments until it hit him: He could stick to walls.

He jumped onto the nearest wall and ran a few feet up it. Higher on the wall was a crack of light that ran along the ceiling and down the maze.

Air needed to get through somewhere, and this was it. It was designed so that from on the ground a person couldn't see it without going all the way to the ceiling. But he could. What was even better is that he had a little light to guide him. This crack had to end somewhere.

He followed it across the maze, jumping and running from wall to wall. Halfway through, he stopped. A shrill sound reached his ears. Glancing around, he noticed nothing unusual. Shrugging, he kept going.

He ran forward some more when the same sound reached his ears, closer this time. He stopped, and then the sound stopped. Streak ran forward a couple feet then stopped with the same outcome.

He was about to continue on when the sound got closer and closer. He turned around suddenly and threw a punch.

Rouge caught it with her hand and threw Streak to the floor. Streak flew through the air and connected with the ground. Blood spurted out of his mouth.

He lay there for a few seconds and then leaped up. He couldn't win this. Not in the dark.

He quickly jumped toward the nearest wall and continued down as fast as he could, working what had happened in his head.

The shrill sound he was hearing was Rouge following him. When it got close, she got close. The only thing he could do is dodge.

He ran down, following the crack. The sound again came to his ears.

He waited five seconds, and then flipped to the wall next to him. He continued running.

After repeating the same action numerous times, Streak began to feel tired. When was this going to end?

He got his answer when the crack stopped in front of him. Looking down, he saw a door below.

He leaped down and ran through the door. At the other side, he opened the door and waited for Rouge's footsteps, then turned and smashed the door in her face.

Rouge fell backwards to the ground, and Streak closed the door and locked it.

He walked back and covered his ears as Rouge's pounding fists hit the door.

Finally, it stopped, and Streak turned toward Shadow who was leaning against the wall on the opposite side.

"Congratulations." He tossed Streak's backpack to him.

Streak unzipped it and rummaged through it until he found his flashlight. Shadow had put new batteries in it.

He walked to the door next to Shadow and opened it. There was the same hallway Shadow and he had entered before.

He opened the door, pointed the flashlight at Shadow's face, and turned it on. Then he raced through the door and shut it.

He grinned when he saw Shadow rubbing his eyes through the window.


	16. Escape

Crimson Blood

By Streak the Chameleon

Chapter 16: Escape

I do not own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

Sorry for not updating. Thanks to Fang the Dragon, Maverick87, and Pyro Hedgehog4ever for yours reviews. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

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Streak was escorted by Espio as he made his way back to his cell. The two didn't say a word as Streak walked in and Espio shut the door behind him.

Streak slid down the wall to a sitting position. He noticed that Sonic was gone.

He turned to Damien. "Do you know where-"

"No." Damien answered softly. "But I would guess interrogation. Shadow took him while you were gone."

"Do you have any idea what their talking about?"

Damien nodded his head. "Yeah. The cure requires the chaos emeralds and a few other things. Actually, the chaos emeralds are only needed to make enough of the cure for everybody."

"Weren't there chaos emeralds on the Ark?"

"Yeah."

"And that's destroyed."

"Yep."

"So nobody knows where they are."

Damien nodded. "But the real problem is that the virus becomes permanent after a few weeks. So, someone needs to find all the emeralds and the other things in…about two weeks."

"You said the emeralds were optional."

"They are. They're needed to make enough of the stuff. But there's only a little of whatever the other stuff is."

"And they have to gather this stuff in two weeks? Couldn't they all work together?"

"Yes, but nobody has the slightest idea where the emeralds are. They have to be sure before they waste two weeks searching everywhere."

"How do you know all this?"

Damien grinned. "You'll be surprised how many times Shadow walks past here talking to himself about this. He's really on edge."

"Do you know a way to get out of here?"

Damien's smile faded. "No. But I'm working on it."

Streak leaned back and closed his eyes. He was about to go asleep when Sonic walked into room and into his cell.

Streak sat up. "What he say?"

Sonic lowered his head and spat something into his hand. He held it up. It was a key.

He stood up and unlocked his cell, then walked over and unlocked Streak and Damien's cell. "How'd you get the key?" Damien asked.

Sonic grinned. "I snatched it off a hook when Shadow left the room. He didn't notice a thing."

Streak nodded. "Then let's get out of here!"

Sonic shook his head. "Not me. I need to cover you."

"Are you sure they won't…kill you?"

"Yeah. Only I know what the cure consists of. Here." He tossed some papers into Streak's hands.

"This is what you need to make the cure. Keep in mind you need the chaos-"

"The chaos emeralds, I know."

Sonic nodded. "Ok. You need to move now before Shadow realizes what's wrong."

"Hold it. We don't have our swords." Damien said.

"I'll get them." Streak started to run out the door.

"Ok. Hurry up!"

Streak turned invisible and ran out. Looking around, he saw that the coast was clear.

He ran down the hallway, turned the corner, and almost collided with Knuckles. He slowly backed a couple steps away and stopped.

Knuckles stopped and looked straight at him. Then he turned and walked on.

Streak let out a sigh of relief. Then someone tapped him on the shoulder.

Streak spin kicked backwards, but all he caught was air. He looked around wildly. No one was there.

Pressing onward, he ran down the hallway, frantically looking in the doors. Nothing.

He opened the last door and found nothing, but as he was closing the door, something caught his eye. Another door was in the room.

He walked in again and closed the door behind him. Then he walked forward and opened the other door.

The two swords fell on top of him. He leaped up and grabbed them. Strapping his on his back, he was about to walk out when the door he came in opened. He quickly jumped up and hung from the ceiling.

Rouge walked in the room. She searched around, her eyes narrowed.

"_Please don't look up, please don't look up…"_ Streak thought.

Rouge looked around for a few more seconds before exiting, slamming the door behind her.

Streak sighed. That was close. He dropped down and walked out.

Retracing his steps, he made it back to the others in one piece.

He turned visible and tossed Damien his sword. Then he turned to Sonic and asked, "How do we get out of here?"

Sonic pointed behind him.

Streak turned and stared at a door across from him. "Oh."

Damien stretched his arms and walked to the doorway. "Let's go!"

Streak walked past him and opened the door. Outside was a forest that seemed to go for miles and miles. Damien walked ran out and stopped at the edge of the forest. "C'mon, let's go!"

Streak waved to Sonic and followed Damien into the forest.

He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following him…


	17. Lost Ruins

Crimson Blood

By Streak the Chameleon

Chapter 17: Lost Ruins

I don't own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

Maverick, grab the shovel. You know what to do. Thanks to Maverick, Pyro, and Fang for reviewing. Fang, no offence taken. I tend to do that, and I'm working on making chapters longer. Like this one. Pyro and Maverick, you are free to use my characters. I have no problem with that. So…go crazy? Maverick, I sent you a message, so check your emails. Again, thanks for reviewing, all of you. Enjoy the chapter.

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A vine fell to the ground as Damien's sword sliced cleanly through it. His sword returned to its sheath with a _click_, and then Damien said, "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" Streak said as he pushed a branch away from him.

"Lost Ruins." Damien said in a bored tone.

"Where's that?"

"A mile ahead."

"So why are we walking?"

"Because someone's following us. You didn't notice?"

Streak blinked. He could tell?

They walked a few more steps until abruptly, Damien put up a hand. "Stop."

He picked up a stick and flipped it in his hand, then tossed it a few meters ahead. A few moments passed.

"Well?" Streak said.

Damien gave him a cold stare. "Shut up and watch."

Streak opened his mouth to object, but then a crackling sound came from underneath the stick. Both of them watched as the area around the stick collapsed, revealing several sharp spikes under it.

"Ouch." Streak said.

"It's not done."

As they continued watching, twenty darts fired out from the tops of the trees, firing down into the hole like machine-gun fire. Soon, the hole was covered in darts.

Streak's mouth dropped open and Damien just crossed his arms. "Let's keep moving." He jumped over the hole with ease and continued forward.

Streak sighed, and followed him.

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After 30 minutes of dodging traps, swinging across chasms, and of course, endless walking, the two arrived at the Lost Ruins.

"I think Sonic has been here before…" (See _Sonic Adventure_.)

"He has."

"Well," Streak said, stretching his legs. "Let's go." He ran up the first flight of stairs and flipped to the door, which was open. Damien walked up, and they headed in.

The first thing they noticed was the lack of light. Streak took out the flashlight from his backpack and clicked it on. The beam moved across the stony walls, revealing ancient writings and pictures, mostly about Chaos.

"Times have not been good to this place…" Streak muttered.

Damien walked up with his own flashlight and handed Streak a headset. "Put this on," he ordered.

"Is this from Xbox Live?" Streak said, staring down at the headset.

Damien clipped his on. "I have a life outside vampire hunting…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

As they swiveled the flashlights, two tunnels appeared in the bright light.

"Okay…" Damien said. "I'll take the right, you take the left." He turned his headset on. "Keep in touch."

He proceeded down his tunnel. Streak took a step forward, and then ran across to Damien's tunnel.

"Damien!"

"What!" Damien's irritated voice reached his ears.

"Be careful." Streak ran down his tunnel.

"…"

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Damien heard Streak's footsteps echo down the opposite tunnel. He sighed.

"Tell me if you see anything." He sent across to Streak.

"Will do." The message was surprisingly clear. He thought he hadn't modified it that much. Even if it was from Xbox Live.

Damien smiled a little at the thought, which was rare in his case. He really wouldn't be surprised if he sank into depression all of a sudden. It was just normal to him, considering what happened 7 years ago.

His flashlight beam ricocheted off of the walls as he walked down the narrow corridor. He stopped for a moment and observed the pictures scrolling horizontally across the walls. One picture caught his eye. It showed four figures worshipping a chaos emerald. He looked down the corridor and saw that the picture repeated every two times. He smiled to himself.

He was on the right track.

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Meanwhile, Streak had reached the end of his tunnel. A metal door stood in front of him, only the thing was, it didn't have a handle.

He walked close to it and it slid upwards, revealing the next room.

"Cool…" He said, grinning. "Just like in _Zelda_."

His grin faded when he heard a swooshing noise behind him. He turned, allowing the flashlight to cut through the inky darkness.

Nobody.

Streak shivered. Did it just get 20 degrees colder in the tunnel? He let out a breath and his eyes widened. "No way…" Streak breathed. He could see his breath in front of him. It was colder in the tunnel!

He forced himself to calm down. He slowly picked up a pebble from the rocky ground and threw it down the corridor. It bounced once off the floor and stopped at the wall. Nobody was there. He was safe…for the moment.

Letting out another breath, he spun around and walked through the door.

Inside was a much lighter corridor, so Streak turned his flashlight off and observed the room. It was much bigger than the last hallway and it was rounded, like a cylinder. There were square shaped holes in the sides. Streak counted. Twenty. He walked up to one slowly. He was about three inches away from it when a block shot out of the hole and blasted a jet of fire across the cylinder. Streak jumped back. As he watched, all the traps suddenly sprung to life, shooting out bursts of flame, one after the other, and creating a lot of noise.

"What's that noise?" Damien's usual bored voice crackled through the headset.

"It's just more traps that shoot fire from holes in the wall," Streak replied back.

"Is the room cylinder-shaped?"

"Yeah."

There was a short pause and then Damien said, "I'm the same room."

"Do the traps shoot fire?"

"I'm checking that right now." A few seconds passed. Then Damien said, "It's ice."

"Ok. Be careful."

Streak moved a few steps back to get a running start. He took a deep breath, and then sprinted forward. He leaped over the first flame, flipped in midair, then just before he touched the ground he used his momentum and slid straight under the second.

He used the rounded slopes to run up to the ceiling of the cylinder, dodging the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth flames in the process. He was about to pick up speed when he noticed that the next few flames were on the ceiling. He flipped over the seventh flame and, while upside-down in midair, used kunai to block the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh flames. He had just made it over the last one when the kunai quivered, and then shot out and ricocheted all the way down the passage. After moving to the wall to dodge the three flames on the ground, he stopped and studied the next few flames. The fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and finally, twentieth, flames were arranged so they covered an entire part of the cylinder. Now normally you would be able to just step over and be done, but each of the flames was alternating every one second, making it impossible to cross without setting yourself on fire.

But…

"_The center is clear,"_ Streak thought. _"Since the flames shoot out every second, I'll need to clear it in…"_

"Half a second." He said out loud.

God. Half a second. It seemed impossible. Could he do it?

Streak took what was probably his millionth breath since entering Lost Ruins, and ran forward.

Time seemed to slow down as Streak ran toward the flames. A second before they turned off, Streak jumped, giving him one and a half seconds to clear the trap.

He flew straight through the middle of where the flames would have been, and landed on the ground. Half a second later, the flames shot out behind him.

Streak quickly examined himself. No burns, no marks, nothing.

"Yes!" He pumped his fist. "I can't believe I just did that!"

"What are you cheering about now?" Damien called through the headset.

"I just cleared the last flames," Streak said, grinning.

"What? I did those ten minutes ago. Hurry up."

Streak walked to the door in front of him. It was just like the one he entered the room in.

He was about to open it when a dull banging sound made him jump. He turned around swiftly.

Nobody.

But that was definitely the sound of the door closing. And that meant someone had just left…or entered.

He hoped that whoever that someone was, they were leaving.

He turned around and opened the door.

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Streak blinked as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He unzipped his backpack and took out his flashlight. _Click_. The beam moved around once again.

There was a booming sound directly behind him. Streak swung the flashlight back to the door. Covering the door were steel bars. He rattled the bars and sighed. No way was he going through that again.

He heard another door closing to the right of him and turned the flashlight toward it. There was a solid brick wall to the right of him, except it looked unstable, and a few of the bricks were missing, allowing you to see more or less what was on the other side, which seemed to be the exact same room.

He saw other flashlight flick on and he knew it was Damien.

"Anything in this room?" Damien asked. He sounded impatient.

"No, not that I know of," Streak said, responding through the headset.

Streak walked forward. "Is the door ahead of you unloc-"Streak's words were cut off as the ground under him started to glow fiery red.

"Uh, Damien…" Streak looked across to the hedgehog and found that his ground was covered in ice.

"Stay calm." Damien unsheathed his sword. It reflected off of the ice.

There was a rumbling sound coming from above the door. Streak hastily put away his flashlight just in time to look up.

Two seconds passed, then two giant worms burst out from above each door. Streak's worm was covered in flames, and Damien's was covered in ice.

Streak skipped a heartbeat and took out his sword.

"What the heck are these things!?"

"Enemies." Damien said through the headset.

Streak's worm lunged at him, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. Flames licked over it's entire body.

Streak rolled to the side as the worm smashed into the door. He slashed, forming a cut on the worm's side. The worm reeled upwards and screamed.

"It sure doesn't like pain…" Streak said.

Damien dodged another lunge, then kicked off of the wall and slashed the worm's mouth, breaking off teeth. They smashed on the floor.

"Well, it definitely doesn't have any problem with inflicting pain…" Damien replied.

Streak ran up the right wall and back flipped off, kicking the worm in the head and narrowly missing the flames. The worm screamed and lunged at the right wall, breaking through it like it was paper.

The rooms were now connected, and Damien and Streak closed the gap between each other. The worms also moved together, with numerous cuts all over their bodies. The two elements surrounding them were conflicting with each other, dropping chunks of ice onto the floor and spreading puddles of water all around.

The two worms reared back, and then shot toward them like an arrow. Streak and Damien nodded at each other.

They kicked off the back wall at the same time and spun in midair. The worms shot past them. They both sliced with their swords downward, cutting the worms' bodies cleanly in two.

As the two landed on the ground, blood started to pool around the room. "Quick, let's get out of here." Streak said.

Damien nodded, and tossed Streak a gun and a cross.

"Ok, I understand the need for a cross, but this is a gun."

"No, really?"

Streak sighed. "Guns don't work on vampires."

"That one will."

"How?"

"Check the bullets."

Streak slipped the cross into his pocket and emptied the cartridge. Red bullets spilled out.

"What are these?"

"UV ammo."

"Huh." Streak shoved the cartridge back in and looked at the gun.

"Is this a Desert Eagle?"

"Good guess." Damien walked to his door and walked in. The door slammed with a boom.

"Bars just came down." Damien said through the headset. There was a brief shuffling sound.

"There's trouble," Damien added.

Streak shoved the gun into another pocket and sprinted through his door.

On the other side, for an instant, he saw stained glass windows and rocky floors.

But that wasn't his focus of attention.

Shadow was standing in the middle of the room.

"Hi…" He said calmly. "Long time no see, huh?"

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Longest. Chapter. Ever.


	18. Ulterior Motives

Crimson Blood

By Streak the Chameleon

Chapter 18: Ulterior Motives

I don't own any of the Sonic characters. Sega does.

Hey guys. I know it's been a while since I updated this story; in fact, I think it's been about 3 years. Life has gotten in the way, I guess. But, I feel obligated to finish this thing, and I will. Eventually. I guess this is a start. Thanks to Pyro Hedgehog, Raziel777, AllxNamesxTaken, and Maverick87 for reviewing the last chapter. Let's do this, shall we?

Sunlight streamed through the large stained glass window on the wall and created a circle of light on the floor. In the center, a certain black hedgehog stood, looking bored out of his mind, like he had more important matters to attend to. In reality, he didn't, and Streak and Damien knew that.

"So…" Streak kicked the floor absentmindedly. "Finally noticed we were gone, huh Shadow?"

Shadow's red eyes flicked towards Streak, an amused smile on his face. "Noticed? Yeah, I guess you could say that. After all, it was me who let you go in the first place."

Streak opened his mouth to respond, but Shadow cut him off. "I knew that Sonic had taken that key. I knew that he had given you that list of where the emeralds are. I saw you leave. I could have stopped you, but I didn't."

"And why would you do something like that?" Damien said, somewhat sarcastically, stepping forward and standing next to Streak.

"It makes this whole thing more interesting. I enjoy chasing my prey instead of just killing them outright." The hedgehog ran a tongue over his fangs. Streak narrowed his eyes, and Damien crossed his arms. "Oh, come on, you mean you guys didn't see this? Why would I willingly let you go? I had you right where I wanted you, didn't I? The truth is, chasing you and making you run is more exciting."

"Not really." Streak said.

"I wasn't really expecting you to understand." Shadow sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Chasing you everywhere, cornering you, and then letting you go is all part of the plan. Eventually I'll suck your blood. Both of yours," he said, pointing at the two of them. A euphoric expression appeared on Shadow's face as he grinned manically, as if he was imagining doing this very thing. "I'm sure yours, Streak, will taste fantastic."

Streak shifted uncomfortably. "What if everything doesn't go according to plan?"

Shadow's grin got wider. "Well, we all know that's not going to happen, don't we?" And then without warning he sprinted forward, faster than ever.

Streak widened his eyes and ducked as Shadow's fist soared over him. He spun and hit Shadow in the chest with the back of his fist, then jumped back as Shadow knelt and coughed up blood.

"Guess you're not as invincible as you thought, huh?" Streak unsheathed his sword and Damien did as well, spinning the blade in his hand.

Shadow took a few deep breaths and stood, grinning. "Oh, I'm just getting started." The hedgehog aimed a punch at Damien, but the silver hedgehog caught it in his free hand and swung his sword horizontally. Shadow raised his other hand and the sword hit his bracelet, sending a few sparks flying. Streak quickly sheathed his sword and tackled Shadow to the ground, punching him again and again in the face, over and over again, until the hedgehog stopped moving.

Damien gave a long, low whistle as Streak stared down at Shadow, his knees on the hedgehog's chest. "There's no way you actually-"

Shadow suddenly sprang to life, putting his hands on Streak's chest and pushing him off of him. Then he ran up and did a back flip, sending his skate smashing into Streak's chin. The chameleon fell to the ground, and Shadow pulled out his green Chaos emerald. "I didn't want to use this," Shadow said, running an arm over his mouth. "But I guess I have to. Chaos Control!"

Time slowed down as Shadow jumped, front flipped, and brought his foot crashing down on Streak's chest. Damien threw a punch, but Shadow easily avoided it and punched him in the face, sending him tumbling a few feet away. Time went back to normal and Shadow laughed. "See? What did I tell you? You can't beat me. Not like this." He flipped his green gem up and down in his hand as Damien coughed and struggled to rise. Staring down at Streak who was under him, Shadow smirked as he noticed the young chameleon had almost gone into shock, his chest rising and falling much faster than normal. Streak's mouth was open and his eyes were staring up at Shadow's, as the black hedgehog leaned closer to him and licked his lips.

"And now for the main course…" Shadow knelt and brought his fangs closer to Streak's neck. In a few seconds it would all be over.

Suddenly Shadow stopped, and he looked down to see Streak conscious and clutching the hedgehog's neck firmly. "No."

The black chameleon leaped up and grabbed Shadow's shoulders, flipping forward and tossing the hedgehog to the ground. Shadow rolled in midair and caught himself on his hands, before flipping up to a standing position. "Damn. So close."

Streak ran forward and did a low reverse roundhouse kick, sweeping Shadow off his feet. He then spun and kicked the hedgehog again in midair, sending him flying farther away. Shadow got up quickly and ran toward Streak, who turned and started running toward the large stained glass window that was on the wall. The chameleon ran up the wall and the hedgehog followed him, light contrasting with their shadows as they both ran higher and higher. Streak suddenly back flipped off the wall and twisted, throwing a few shuriken at Shadow's unprotected back. Shadow pulled out his emerald and jumped off the wall, spinning and twisting, and the shuriken bounced harmlessly off the jewel.

They both landed on the ground at the same time and dashed toward each other. Streak reached into his pockets and spun two kunai knives on his fingers before bringing them to bear. He slashed at Shadow before stabbing him in the knee and shoulder, and then delivered a swift uppercut that sent him crashing to the ground. Shadow's emerald fell from his hand and Streak was about to pick it up, when the hedgehog suddenly stood up, pulling Streak's kunai out of him. The chameleon stepped forward and kicked the Chaos emerald straight into Shadow's face, and the black hedgehog dropped instantly.

Streak waited a few tentative seconds, then exhaled. "Oh God…" He collapsed on the ground and brought himself to a sitting position. Damien walked up to him. "Where were you?" The silver hedgehog gave a rare smile. "Watching. It actually didn't take that long." He walked over to the emerald lying on the floor and picked it up. He stared at it for a few seconds before putting it away, then walked over and helped Streak up. "We need to keep moving. There's still something here that we need to-"

"I'm not done yet…" Shadow was conscious and was picking himself off the stone floor. He smirked at Streak, revealing his sharp fangs. "That was a pretty good kick. I'm going to be needing that emerald back, though." Electricity coursed across Shadow's body, and yellow Chaos bolts appeared in both of his hands. Streak's eyes widened in recognition. _"Chaos Spear…"_

"I'm going to need a boost." Damien whispered to Streak. "What?" The silver hedgehog pointed wordlessly up in the air, then down at his wrist. "Now would be nice." The chameleon nodded.

Shadow bent his legs, and Streak did the same, holding his hands out and low to the ground. Suddenly Shadow leaped high in the air, pulling his hands back. "Now!" Damien stepped into Streak's hand and jumped, as Streak pushed up. Damien was sent flying into the air to meet Shadow as the hedgehog pushed his hands forward. "Chaos Spear!" Yellow bolts shot toward Damien, but he raised his sword and deflected the bolts expertly. The silver hedgehog spun and slashed Shadow once, then his sword rose again and suddenly Shadow was being cut all over, and Damien's sword was a blur as it delivered lightning fast strikes that were almost too quick to see.

Damien then spun again, slashing Shadow one final time, and the black hedgehog was sent flying toward the huge stained glass window. He crashed through it, making sunlight flash across dozens of glass shards, and then he fell, disappearing from sight.

Damien landed back on the ground and twirled his sword around him, throwing Shadow's blood on the floor and sheathing the blade all in one fluid motion. Streak's eyes widened. "That was…impressive."

The silver hedgehog's armor _clinked_ as he turned and stared at Streak, stretching his arms across his chest. "Not really. I've done that before. A few years ago-"

He stopped suddenly. "Never mind." Streak cocked an eyebrow. "You sure?"

Damien nodded. "Yeah." He pointed to a door at the other end of the room. "He might come back. We have to keep moving."

The black chameleon nodded and the two walked toward the door. It opened automatically, revealing a torch lit room with a large stone ramp that sloped downwards until it disappeared from sight. Streak stepped forward. "Well, let's go."

"Wait." But it was too late, as soon a rumbling sound shook the whole room. Damien sighed and pointed upwards. "Time to start running." A huge boulder teetered on the platform above, and as the two watched it began to tip.

"Yeah, time to go!" Streak sprinted down the ramp, Damien following him, as the boulder finally tipped and started rolling down the ramp, picking up speed. Streak leaped over a raised stone and looked behind him to see the boulder getting closer. "Run faster!"

Damien dodged a flying rock and moved his legs faster. "Watch out."

Streak looked forward to see a huge chasm ahead of him, and a platform stretching out beyond it. There was also another, smaller ramp before the gap.

Streak sprinted forward, ran up the smaller ramp and jumped, flipping over the chasm and landing cleanly on the platform. He looked back to see Damien jump across, doing an acrobatic twist and landing expertly on the platform as well.

Streak smirked. "Show off." Damien stared at Streak, an amused expression on his face. "Whatever." The black chameleon walked forward, the door in front of them opening automatically. "Alright let's move on-look out!" The large boulder had launched itself off the smaller ramp as well, and was heading straight towards them. Damien quickly took a few steps back and Streak dived through the open door as the boulder struck the platform, breaking it into fragments. Damien ran towards the door, but the ground gave way underneath him and he fell.

Streak's hand shot out and grabbed Damien's just in time. The whole platform and the boulder had fallen into the chasm, and the doorway was the only thing that was left. The chameleon pulled the hedgehog up, and the door closed behind them. Both of them breathed heavily, then Damien straightened up and touched Streak on the shoulder. "Thanks." Streak nodded. "You owe me one." The chameleon stood and looked around the new room they were in. "So, where are we?"

The two were in a wide, tall room that stretched far above them. They were standing on a raised stone platform that formed an L-shape around one side of the room, and the rest of the room was covered in water. Glowing square panels hung at various spots on the wall, and looking up, the two could see more panels and platforms above them. A large switch was in the center of the room.

"Looks like we're going up." Streak jumped onto the floor beneath them, water splashing around him, and walked over to the ornate switch. "Really? What was your first clue?" Damien said rather sarcastically in his usual bored tone of voice, as he too jumped down. Streak climbed up onto the switch and it depressed, making the panels on the wall nearest them shift suddenly across the wall. "You'll need to press it two more times." Damien crossed his arms as the panels stopped. "Oh? How do you know that?" The silver hedgehog shrugged. "Must be my amazing skills of deduction."

Streak smirked as he jumped up, pressing the switch down again. "Wow. He has a sense of humor." The panels shifted again, rearranging themselves into a new configuration, and the chameleon jumped for the third time, making the panels align and glow brightly. "Huh. Guess you were right."

"I'm always right." Damien walked over to the panels and followed them up the wall with his eyes. "We can go up here," he said, and with that, he put his foot on the nearest-most panel and starting running up the wall like it was most normal thing in the world.

Streak sighed, then followed the hedgehog up the wall. The two ran up a few panels until they ended and revealed another platform, with another large switch. Beyond that was another set of panels with yet another switch next to them. Damien pressed the closest switch, making the panels on the wall move together and glow. Streak leaped down and was about to press the second switch, but Damien whistled sharply. The chameleon stopped.

"Nah," the silver hedgehog vaulted over the switch and began running up the wall. "Don't touch that one." Streak frowned. _"How does he know that?"_

They ran up the second set of panels silently, the whole room eerily quiet as the two moved horizontally across it. The panels ended at a new platform, and after that there was a small gap and a tunnel that retreated deeper into the wall. They cleared the gap easily, and jogged towards the tunnel.

"So, you think Shadow's following us?" Streak said as he sidestepped a spike trap.

"Probably not." Damien rolled as a jet of flame shot out from the wall beside him. Streak waited for the flame to stop, then continued forward. "He fell pretty far. He won't be getting up from that one anytime soon." The two walked into the narrow tunnel, turned a corner and walked up a ramp before ending up in a higher part of the room. A switch stood in front of them.

Streak jumped onto the switch and pressed it down. A row of panels next to them shifted back, then glowed. Damien wordlessly ran up this new set of panels, and Streak followed silently.

They moved left, down, left, up, and then left again, the soft _clink-clink-clink_ of their swords being the only sound that echoed around the room. They reached another platform, leaped over a spike trap, and stopped as they found a second tunnel a few feet below them that led deeper into the ruins. The tunnel stuck out from the wall like a box of sorts, and Damien leaned over the edge to stare into the dark passageway. "Follow me," he said, and with that, the silver hedgehog jumped down into the "box" and disappeared from sight. Streak was about to follow him, when the sound of water splashing on the floor below reached his ears. The chameleon jumped and quickly looked out over the edge of the platform. Nothing. The room was silent, save for Streak's slow breathing. After staring down at the water below for a few seconds, he turned and practically dived into the tunnel.

Streak's footsteps echoed off the narrow stone walls as he hurriedly turned a corner and dropped down, proceeding further into the maze of corridors. He wasn't even sure where he was going, or what he was trying to find. _"Guess I'll figure it out eventually…these ruins can't go on for much longer."_ His question was answered when a hole appeared in front of him suddenly, beckoning him to go deeper. Streak took one last look behind him, then silently vaulted down into the hole.

He fell for a few seconds before the hole opened up and revealed a massive room, obviously the heart of the temple. Streak landed on the stone floor silently, rolling to absorb the impact on his legs. Looking around, he noticed flame-lit torches lining the room, and wide stone steps in the back, but what really caught his eye was the enormous relief of Chaos, in his Perfect form, destroying an unknown environment. The chameleon gave a long, low whistle and pointed to the ancient stone carving. "Chaos did something like this a while back, right?"

Damien was at the base of the steps, his back to Streak, staring at something that the chameleon couldn't see. "Yeah. The conflict was basically…a misunderstanding. When Sonic stopped him, he went back to normal. He's not a bad guy when you get to know him. Quiet, but he has good intentions." He still hadn't turned around.

Streak cocked an eyebrow. "You've met him? And I thought he never says anything."

"He doesn't. Why? You want his cell phone number?" Damien smirked at his own sarcastic comment, then stepped to the side, allowing Streak to see what he'd been staring at. "_This_ is what we've been looking for."

Next to him was a small altar, and on it was a highly-decorative, gold-colored chalice, which glimmered as it contrasted with the little light in the room. Streak stared at it incredulously. "Is that…water inside it? We came all this way for _water_?"

"It's not just any water…" Damien picked up the cup and rotated it in his hand, being careful not to spill any of the liquid. "It's holy water. It's sanctified. Blessed. Only one of its kind. Excellent against vampires, as well as one ingredient needed to create Sonic's cure." He turned to Streak. "Pass me the small vial in your backpack."

Streak took off his backpack and rummaged through it, before producing a small glass vial. He handed it to the hedgehog, and crossed his arms. "Did you put that in my bag?"

Damien nodded as he carefully poured all of the sacred water into the vial, without spilling a single drop. Then he capped it, stared at it for a moment in the light, then without warning tossed it to Streak. The chameleon gasped and caught it quickly, before placing it in his backpack. "And you tell me to be careful…"

Damien gave another one of his rare smiles, then tapped his wrist. "C'mon. Let's get out of here." Streak zipped up his backpack and put it back on, smirking slightly. "Since there are no doors out of here, I assume you want me to…" He trailed off and raised his right hand, the bracelet on it visible. Damien nodded. "I was getting to that, but yeah. Do it." The chameleon put a hand on the hedgehog's shoulder, ran his other across his bracelet, and the two vanished in a flash of light.


End file.
